It wasn’t an easy road to financial independence, but Mr. Money
Mustache reached his goal by adopting a simple strategy that
anyone can put into practice: Incorporate challenges into
your routine.

"What it boils down to is enjoying hardship and practicing
voluntary hardship every day,” he explained on an episode of
the Mad Fientist’s "Financial Independence Podcast” when
asked how to stay motivated on the journey to financial
independence. "We’re trained in this
country to avoid difficult stuff. And so that’s the first thing I
think you got to get rid of if you want to get anywhere that’s
different from the other people."

He suggests learning to live on less — cutting down your
wardrobe, buying used cars — and finding ways to add meaning to
life that don’t rely on material possessions. One personal
challenge he took on was learning carpentry.

"Start with a philosophy of life and read about … ancient
principles that were around before we became this fancy society
that we are right now, things like stoicism and a quest for
having a reason to be alive,” he explained to
the Mad Fientist.

Building up your savings doesn’t start with cutting costs or
increasing streams of income, but rather with shifting your
mindset, Adeney says. When you integrate challenges as a daily
habit, making sacrifices to save becomes second-nature.

"Even if you’re still at the very beginning of getting your
finances in order, having this as a framework suddenly makes
everything else work better,” he said. "Suddenly, you can earn
more money and you can spend less money because you engage in
this quest to make your life better, which happens to involve
doing difficult stuff.”

Bottom
line: Don’t concentrate on how saving will make your life harder
— focus on how the money you’re putting away will make it
better in the long run.